Highly integrated and reliable DRAM and its manufacture

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device and its manufacture method wherein the semiconductor substrate has first and second insulating films, the first insulating film being an insulating film other than a silicon nitride film formed at least on a side wall of a conductive pattern including at least one layer of metal or metal silicide, and the second insulating film being a silicon nitride film formed to cover the first insulating film and the upper surface and side wall of the conductive pattern. The first insulating film may be formed to cover the upper surface and side wall of the conductive pattern. A semiconductor device and its manufacture method are provided which can realize high integrated DRAMs of 256 M or larger without degrading reliability and stability.

This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No.10/827,292, filed on Apr. 20, 2004, which is a divisional of priorapplication Ser. No. 09/920,927 filed on Aug. 3, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No.6,818,993, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/876,908,filed on Jun. 16, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,692.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and itsmanufacture, and more particularly to a semiconductor device and itsmanufacture suitable for highly integrated and reliable DRAMs (DynamicRandom Access Memories).

b) Description of the Related Art

As the capacity of DRAM becomes large, it becomes essential to make itsfundamental constituent, a memory cell, more finer in order to realizehigh integration and low cost.

A general DRAM cell is constituted of one MOS transistor and onecapacitor. In order to make a memory cell finer, it is thereforesubstantial that how a large capacitance is obtained from a small cellsize.

As a method of procuring a capacitance of a memory cell, a trench typecell and a stack type cell have recently been proposed and adopted asthe cell structure of current DRAMs. A trench type cell has a capacitorformed in a trench in the substrate. A stack type cell has a capacitorthree-dimensionally stacked above the MOS transistor.

More improved cell structures have also been proposed, particularly forstack type cells, such as a fin type cell and a cylinder type cell. Afin type cell has a plurality of storage electrodes disposed generallyin parallel with the substrate and the upper and lower surfaces of eachstorage electrode are used as capacitor electrodes so that thecapacitance per unit area occupied by a cell can be increased more thana stack type cell. A cylinder type cell has a cylindrical storageelectrode disposed generally vertically to the substrate to increase thecapacitance.

By using these cell structures and their manufacture processes, itbecomes possible to realize DRAMs of 64 Mbit class with 0.35 μm designrule.

However, these technologies only are insufficient for higher integrationsuch as DRAMs of 256 Mbit and 1 Gbit class with 0.25 μm to 0.15 μmdesign rule.

It is therefore necessary not only to reduce a substrate area occupiedby a capacitor but to make as small as possible an alignment margin setfor eliminating troubles to be caused by wiring shortages or the likeduring photolithography. It is also necessary to solve the problemsassociated with improved cell structures such as a cylinder type cell.

A first problem pertains to alignment.

A self align contact (SAC) method is already known as a method offorming a fine contact window. This method is disclosed, for example, inJapanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 58-115859.

With this method, a first insulating film is formed on a gate electrodelayer of a MOS transistor and patterned to form a gate electrode. Aftersource/drain diffusion regions are formed, a second insulating film isformed and etched through anisotropic etching until the diffusionregions are exposed. Since an insulating film is formed on the side wallof a gate electrode portion including the first insulating film, theperiphery of the gate electrode can be perfectly insulated with thefirst and second insulating films. Contact window areas can also beformed above the diffusion regions in a self alignment manner.

If the self align method is used for forming contact windows asdescribed above, an alignment margin is not necessary between theunderlying conductive layers (gate electrode and source/drain diffusionregions) and contact windows. The cell can be made fine correspondinglybecause the alignment margin is not necessary. Such a simple self alignmethod is still unsatisfactory because multi-layer processes are usedfor making highly integrated DRAM cells finer.

An example of improved self align contact techniques used for DRAM cellswill be described with reference to schematic cross sectional views ofFIG. 34A to 35B which illustrate manufacture processes.

FIGS. 34A and 34B and FIGS. 35A and 35B are cross sectional views oftypical memory cell units taken along the direction crossing the wordline direction (along the direction of source/drain of MOS transistors).With reference to these drawings, a method of forming contact windows byusing the self-align contact technique will be described specifically,the contact windows being used for contact between each of bit lines andstorage electrode with the source/drain diffusion region of the MOStransistor.

First, as shown in FIG. 34A, a gate insulating film 113 is formed on asilicon substrate 111 surrounded by a LOCOS oxide film 112. On this gateinsulating film 113, a polysilicon layer 114 and a tungsten silicidelayer 115 are deposited to form a polycide gate electrode. Source/drainregions 116 are formed on both sides of the gate electrode. A nitridefilm 117 is formed surrounding the periphery of the polycide gateelectrode which corresponds to the word line.

The processes up to this are the same as the above-described self aligncontact method so that these processes can be executed in accordancewith the method described in the Japanese Patent Laid-open PublicationNo. 58-115859.

Next, a silicon oxide film 118 is formed over the whole surface of thenitride film 117. The silicon oxide film 118 is planarized by chemicalmechanical polishing (CMP) or the like to facilitate the succeedingprocesses.

Next, as shown in FIG. 34B, on the planarized oxide film 118, a resistlayer is coated and patterned by usual photolithography to form a resistpattern 119 to be used as an etching mask.

Next, as shown in FIG. 35A, by using the resist pattern 119 as a mask,the oxide film 118 is etched to form contact windows 120 reaching thediffusion regions 116. In this case, the etching conditions of the oxidefilm is set so as to have a large etching selection ratio of the oxidefilm to the silicon nitride film. Therefore, even if the nitride film117 is exposed while etching the oxide film, the nitride film is notetched so much and the areas generally the same as those of the selfalign contact windows first formed in the nitride film become newcontact windows.

Next, the resist pattern 119 is removed by known techniques.

Then, as shown in FIG. 35B, a conductive layer 121 is formed on thecontact windows.

With the above method, even if the contact windows are formed above ornear the gate electrode because of displacement of the resist pattern119, the conductive layer 121 and polycide electrode are notelectrically short-circuited. Therefore, it is not necessary to have analignment margin of the contact window relative to the polycideelectrode.

According to this technique, contact windows can be formed in a selfalignment manner, while planarizing the oxide film 118 serving as aninterlayer insulating film.

Such self align contact (SAC) technique will be called hereinafter“nitride film spacer SAC”.

The following problems occur when nitride spacer SAC is used.

One problem associated with the gate electrode structure formed bynitride film spacer SAC is the deteriorated transistor characteristics.

The problems of the gate electrode structure using a nitride film spacerside wall are described, for example, in IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONDEVICES, VOL. 38, NO. 3 MARCH 1991 “Hot-Carrier Injection SuppressionDue to the Nitride-Oxide LDD Spacer Structure”, T. Mizumo et. al.

This paper describes that as compared to a MOS transistor with an oxidefilm side wall, the electrical characteristics of a MOS transistor witha nitride film side wall are deteriorated greatly, for example, in thehot carrier effects, leading to a lower reliability. This may beascribed to a larger number of traps in a silicon nitride film than inan oxide film.

The above paper discloses a method of preventing deterioration oftransistor characteristics by forming an oxide film between the nitridefilm side wall and gate electrode and between the nitride film side walland substrate so as to suppress the influence of the nitride film.

However, such a structure cannot be applied directly to the nitride filmspacer SAC structure.

This problem will be explained with reference to FIGS. 36A to 37.Similar to FIGS. 34A and 34B and FIGS. 35A and 35B, cross sectionalviews of typical memory cell units shown in FIGS. 36A, 36B, and 37 aretaken along the direction crossing the word line direction. In FIGS.36A, 36B, and 37, similar elements to those shown in FIGS. 34A and 34Band FIGS. 35A and 35B are represented by using identical referencenumerals.

FIG. 36A illustrates the processes corresponding to those of FIG. 34B,and shows a resist pattern 119 on an oxide film 118, which pattern isused for forming contact windows. A silicon nitride film 122 is formedon a polycide electrode constituted of a silicon film 114 and a silicidefilm 115, and a silicon nitride film 124 is formed via an oxide film 123on the side wall of the laminated structure of the polycide electrodeand silicon nitride film 122. Impurity doped regions 116 as source/draindiffused regions are formed in the substrate 111 on both sides of thegate electrode.

The resist pattern 119 is formed in order to form contact windows of thenitride film spacer SAC structure. In FIG. 36A, the resist pattern 119is displaced because of misalignment.

If the oxide film 118 is etched in this state, the side wall oxide film123 between the nitride film side wall 124 and polycide electrode isalso etched at the same time, and the side wall of the gate electrode isexposed, as shown in FIG. 36B.

Next, as a wiring electrode 121 is formed in the contact window, asshown in FIG. 37 the gate electrode is electrically shorted to thewiring electrode 121 and diffusion regions 116 via the side wall of theexposed gate electrode.

In order to avoid such electrical short circuits, it is necessary tohave an alignment margin and it is impossible to form contact windows ina self alignment manner. The nitride film side wall structure descriedin the above paper cannot be therefore applied to nitride film spacerSAC.

Another problem associated with nitride film spacer SAC is separation orpeel-off of a silicide film to be caused by a combination of a polycideconductive layer and nitride film spacer SAC.

A polycide structure, which is a lamination structure of a silicon filmand a silicide film such as tungsten silicide (WSi) and molybdenumsuicide (MoSi), has a resistance lower than a silicon film and is widelyused for gate electrodes, word lines, bit lines, and the like.

It has been found, however, that if the nitride film spacer SAC processis used with a polycide conductive film, stress is generated because ofa difference of thermal expansion coefficient between the polycide filmand nitride film and the silicide film can be separated at later heattreatments.

The conventional nitride film spacer SAC cannot be used therefore alsofor the wiring structure of bit lines or the like, which do notdeteriorate transistor performances.

A second problem is associated with a process of forming a contact holeto expose a plug conductive film embedded in another contact window.

For highly integrated DRAM structures, a planarizing process isnecessary for preventing breakage or the like of a wiring layer at laterprocesses. For this reason, a structure is adopted which embeds aconductive film called a plug into a contact window.

A process of forming a contact window for contacting a plug with anupper wiring layer is desired to have a process margin relative to theposition misalignment. It is also preferable to use SAC in forming acontact window because fine processing is possible.

Under the conditions that an insulating film surrounding a plug can beetched by the contact window forming process, it is not possible to havea process margin relative to the position misalignment and to use SAC.Therefore, a position alignment margin becomes necessary, which hindershigh integration.

A third problem is associated with a method of forming a cylinder typestorage electrode.

A cylinder type storage electrode utilizes the side wall portion of thecylinder as part of the capacitor of a memory cell. It is thereforenecessary to make constant the side wall area of the cylinder in orderto stabilize the capacitance.

Generally a cylinder type storage electrode is formed by forming anopening in an insulating film, leaving a conductive layer as the storageelectrode only on the side wall and bottom of the opening, andthereafter etching and removing the insulating film.

With these processes, the exposed area of the outer side wall of acylinder type conductive layer used as the storage electrode changeswith an amount of etching the insulating film on the outer side wall ofthe storage electrode.

A fourth problem is associated with a process of forming a contactwindow for a conductive layer having a large step.

The structure capable of increasing the area of a storage electrode byusing a three-dimensional structure such as a cylinder type celldescribed above has been studied in order to procure a sufficientcapacitance even with a small cell area. A height of the storageelectrode is required to be made greater in order to procure asufficient capacitance. Therefore, a height difference (step) between acell area and a peripheral circuit area becomes large.

Such a step poses not only a problem of breakage of wiring at the step,but also another problem. Namely, a size accuracy is lowered whenwirings over the cell area and peripheral circuit area are patterned,because of an insufficient depth of focus.

There is a method of solving these problems, as disclosed in JapanesePatent Laid-open Publication No. 3-155663, which embeds concaved areason the surface of an insulating film with a coated insulating film suchas spin on glass (SOG) and resist and thereafter etches it back, orplanarizes the insulating film formed on uneven cell and peripheralcircuit areas through chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).

A problem of a shallow depth of focus can be solved through suchplanarization. However, following new problems occur.

A DRAM structure has a number of conductive layers which are connectedto upper metal wiring layers, including MOS transistor source/draindiffusion regions, word lines, and bit lines respectively in aperipheral circuit area, bit lines, capacitor opposing electrodes, andthe like in the memory cell area.

These conductive layers are not formed at the same layer level, but areformed as a multi-layer structure having interlayer insulating films.Therefore, distances of conductive layers from the substrate aredifferent.

If the higher level insulating film is planarized by the above-describedprocesses, the surface of the insulating film is made generally parallelto the substrate surface so that depths of contact holes formed in theinsulating film become different.

Therefore, if these contact holes are formed by a singlephotolithography process, until the lowermost conductive layer—diffusionregion—is exposed, the uppermost conductive layer for which contact holehas already formed is exposed in an etching atmosphere for a long time.

An etching selection ratio of the insulating film to the conductivelayer cannot be set too high. Therefore, the contact window for theuppermost conductive layer can penetrate into the lower insulating film.At the worst, another conductive layer under the excessively etchedcontact window can be electrically short-circuited.

In order to form a highly reliable contact hole without electrical shortof the lower level wiring layer, it is essential to increase the numberof processes, for example, to divide the single photolithography processinto a plurality of processes.

A fifth problem is associated with planarization.

DRAM manufacture processes become complicated and the number ofprocesses increases, as the degrees of integration and fine processingbecome high. These may become a factor of lowering product yields andultimately raising the cost.

Multi-layer wiring processes are used for high integration.Planarization of insulating layers and wiring layers is thereforeimportant.

Planarizing technology without complicated manufacture processes istherefore desired.

A sixth problem is associated with electrical characteristics of MOStransistors.

As integration becomes higher, MOS transistors are made finer which maycause deteriorated transistor characteristics and lowered reliability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide technology capableof applying nitride film spacer SAC to a polycide structure and allowingfine processing and high integration of DRAM memory cells.

It is another object of the present invention to provide technologycapable of utilizing an SAC structure while providing a sufficientprocess margin relative to misalignment with a plug.

It is another object of the present invention to provide technologycapable of producing a stable capacitance by making constant an exposedarea of the outer side wall of a cylinder type storage electrode.

It is another object of the present invention to provide technologycapable of forming contact windows in one photolithography process evenwhen the depths of the windows are different, and hence reducing thenumber of manufacturing steps.

It is another object of the present invention to provide technologycapable of simplifying manufacture processes by applying a planarizingstep to nitride film spacer SAC.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a MOStransistor structure with improved characteristics capable of being usedfor DRAM memory cells.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided asemiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having aninsulating surface; a conductive pattern disposed on the insulatingsurface of the semiconductor substrate, the conductive pattern includingat least one layer of metal or metal silicide; a first insulating filmmade of an insulating material other than silicon nitride formed tocover at least a side wall of the conductive pattern; and a secondinsulating film made of silicon nitride formed to continuously cover theconductive pattern and the first insulating film.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the stepsof: forming a conductive layer including at least one layer of metalsilicide on a semiconductor substrate; depositing a first siliconnitride film on the conductive layer to form a lamination; patterningthe lamination; forming an oxide film on a side wall of the conductivelayer by thermal oxidation; forming a second silicon nitride film on thesemiconductor substrate including the patterned lamination and oxidefilm on the side wall; and anisotropically etching the second siliconnitride film to form a side spacer of the second silicon nitride on theside wall of the lamination inclusive of the oxide film on the sidewall.

The upper surface and side area of a conductive layer are continuouslycovered with a nitride film, and an insulating film such as an oxidefilm is inserted between at least the side wall of the conductive layerand the nitride film. It becomes therefore possible to preventseparation of the metal silicide film constituting the gate electrodeand to use nitride film spacer SAC. Furthermore, this structurecontributes to making DRAMs finer, increasing a manufacture margin,shortening the manufacture process, and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross sectional views illustrating a fundamentalembodiment according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a memory cell area.

FIGS. 3A to 14 are schematic cross sectional views illustrating firstDRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 15A and 15B are schematic cross sectional views illustratingsecond DRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 16A and 16B are schematic cross sectional views illustrating thirdDRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 17A to 23 are schematic cross sectional views illustrating fourthDRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 24 to 28 are schematic cross sectional views illustrating fifthDRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 29 and 30 are schematic cross sectional views illustrating sixthDRAM manufacture processes according to another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 31 is a schematic cross sectional view illustrating seventh DRAMmanufacture processes according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 32 is a schematic cross sectional view illustrating eighth DRAMmanufacture processes according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 33 is a schematic cross sectional view illustrating ninth DRAMmanufacture processes according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 34A and 34B and FIGS. 35A and 35B are schematic cross sectionalviews illustrating nitride film spacer SAC.

FIGS. 36A and 36B and FIG. 37 are schematic cross sectional views usedfor explaining problems associated with conventional techniques.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. FIGS. 1A and 1B show a semiconductor device andits modification according to the fundamental embodiment of theinvention.

In FIG. 1A, reference numeral 1 represents a silicon substrate,reference numeral 2 represents a field insulating film, referencenumeral 3 represents a gate oxide film, reference numeral 4 represents asilicon film, reference numeral 5 represents a silicide film, referencenumeral 6 represents a silicon oxide film, reference numeral 7represents an impurity diffused region, reference numeral 8 represents asilicon nitride film spacer, reference numeral 9 represents aninterlayer insulating film, and reference numeral 10 represents acontact window.

An active region on the substrate 1 is defined by the field insulatingfilm 2. On the gate oxide film 3 on the active region, a gate electrodeis formed which is a lamination of the silicon film 4 and silicide film5. The silicon nitride film 8 covers the upper surface and side area ofthe gate electrode. The oxide film 6 is disposed under the siliconnitride film 8 serving as the side spacer and between the side wall ofthe gate electrode and the side spacer nitride film.

Since the oxide film 6 is disposed under the silicon nitride film 8serving as the side spacer, most of hot carriers generated at the MOStransistor channel are trapped in the oxide film 6. The MOS transistorcharacteristics are less influenced by the silicon nitride film 8.Therefore, almost the same reliability as a conventional MOS transistorusing an oxide film side wall spacer can be ensured.

Since the oxide film 6 between the side wall of the gate electrode andthe nitride film functions as a relaxation film between the silicidefilm 5 and nitride film 8, the silicide film can be prevented from beingseparated from the silicon film 4 at later heat treatments or the like.

Also since the silicon oxide film 6 exists only on the side wall of thegate electrode and is not exposed on the upper surface of the gateelectrode structure, the contact window 10 can be formed by usingnitride film spacer SAC, without posing a problem of an electrical shortcircuit between a conductive layer and the gate electrode even if themask is displaced, as described with conventional techniques. Although aMOS transistor having a gate oxide film is described, a MIS transistorhaving a gate insulating film other than an oxide film may be formed.The gate electrode may be formed of a conductive material includingmetals or its lamination other than polycide.

FIG. 1B shows another example of the fundamental embodiment of theinvention.

In FIG. 1B, reference numeral 1 represents a silicon substrate,reference numeral 2 represents a field insulating film, referencenumeral 3 represents a gate oxide film, reference numeral 4 represents asilicon film, reference numeral 5 represents a silicide film, referencenumeral 7 represents an impurity diffused region, reference numeral 8represents a silicon nitride film spacer, reference numeral 9 representsan interlayer insulating film, reference numeral 10 represents a contactwindow, and reference numeral 6 a represents a silicon oxide film. InFIG. 1B, elements similar to those shown in FIG. 1A are represented byusing identical reference numerals.

As compared to the structure shown in FIG. 1A, the silicon oxide film 6a is formed also on the silicide film 5 constituting the gate electrodeto completely cover the upper surface and side wall of the gateelectrode with it. With this structure, since the silicon nitride film 8and silicide film 5 do not contact directly, the structure moreresistant to separation at later heat treatments or the like can beprovided.

The structures shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B are applicable not only to a MOStransistor gate electrode but to other wiring layers such as bit lineshaving a polycide structure.

More concrete embodiments will be described hereinbelow. Identicalreference numerals are used in each embodiment for same or similarelements.

1st DRAM

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a DRAM memory cell area. In FIG. 2,reference numeral 11 represents an active region, reference numeral 12represents a word line of MOS transistors also serving as gateelectrodes, reference numeral 13 represents a bit line, referencenumeral 14 represents a contact window for contact between the bit lineand source/drain diffusion region of a MOS transistor, and referencenumeral 15 represents a contact window for contact between a cylindertype storage electrode and source/drain region of a MOS transistor.Wiring layers such as back-up wiring lines formed on gate electrodes orbit lines are not shown in FIG. 2.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 3A to 13, a method of forming contactwindows of DRAM by self align contact (SAC) techniques will bespecifically described. FIGS. 3A to 13 are schematic cross sectionalviews showing a memory cell area taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 2 and atypical wiring structure of a peripheral circuit area. It may be notedthat line A-A′ crosses both the word line 12 and the bit line 13.

First, as shown in FIG. 3A, on a p-type silicon substrate 16, a thickoxide film (field oxide film) 17 is formed by well known LOCOS (localoxidation of silicon) to thereby define element isolation regions andactive regions. Reference characters MC represent a memory cell area,and PC represents a peripheral circuit area.

Various circuits are formed in the peripheral circuit area. For thesecircuits, n- and p-channel MOS transistor regions are generally formedin this area.

The p-channel MOS transistor area may be an n-type well formed in ap-type silicon substrate, and the n-channel MOS transistor area may be ap-type well formed in the p-type silicon substrate or a p-type well(triple-well structure) formed in an n-type well in the p-type siliconsubstrate. These structures may be selected as desired according to thedesign characteristics. For example, reference may be made to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/507,978, filed on Jul. 27, 1995, claimingpriority of Sep. 22, 1994, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Although not shown, after or before LOCOS, p- and n-type impurity ionsare implanted into the active regions of the peripheral circuit area toform p- and n-type wells. In a partial area of each n-type well, p-typeimpurities are doped to form a p-type well whose bottom and side aresurrounded by the n-type well.

If necessary, channel stopper regions are formed under the field oxidefilm 17 by implanting p- or n-type impurity ions depending upon theconductivity type of impurities in wells.

Although not shown, impurities for the control of threshold values (Vth)are doped in the active regions depending on the characteristics of MOStransistors.

Ion implantation processes for these wells, channel stopper regions, andVth control are not required to be executed at this stage, but obviouslythey may be executed after a gate oxide film forming process, a gateelectrode forming process, or the like which will be later describedsequentially.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the substrate surface is oxidized to form agate oxide film 18 which is 8 nm thick. On this gate oxide film 18, aphosphorous doped silicon film 19 having a thickness of 50 nm, atungsten silicide (WSi) film 20 having a thickness of 50 nm, and asilicon nitride film 21 having a thickness of 80 nm are sequentiallydeposited by well known CVD (chemical vapor deposition).

The lamination of these films is patterned to a desired shape byphotolithography to form MOS transistor gate structures. In the cellarea, the polycide structure of the lamination becomes the word line(corresponding to 12 in FIG. 2).

Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere isperformed to thermally grow an oxide film 22 to 2 to 10 nm thick. Thisoxidation forms an oxide film only on the side wall of the polycidestructure of the silicon film 19 and WSi film 20 and on the surface ofthe silicon substrate 16 at the active region. This oxide film is notformed on the surface of the silicon nitride film 21 including its sidewall because the silicon nitride film 21 is not oxidized. Since thesilicon film 19 has an impurity concentration higher than the substrate11, the oxide film 22 on the side wall of the silicon film 19 becomesthicker than on the substrate surface. Next, by using the gate electrodestructure as a mask, n-type impurity ions, phosphorous, are doped at adose of 1×10¹³ cm⁻² over the whole surface of the substrate. An impuritydoped region 23 corresponding to an n⁻-type region of an LDD (lightlydoped drain) structure is therefore formed in the n-channel MOStransistor region.

In this case, these n-type impurities are also doped in the p-channelMOS transistor region. However, this region substantially disappears atthe later process of high concentration p-type impurity ion implantationso that there is no practical problem. Further, if this n-type impurityregion is controlled to be left at the periphery of the p-type impuritydiffusion region serving as a source/drain region, it functions as apunch-through preventing region.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, a silicon nitride film is deposited by CVD toa thickness of 50 to 150 and anisotropically etched by well known RIE(reactive ion etching) to form a nitride film side wall spacer on theside wall of the gate electrode.

In this case, it is preferable that the etching is stopped by leavingthe oxide film 22 not covered with the nitride film 21 present on thesubstrate 16 or the like, because etching damages to the substrate canbe suppressed. However, it is not always required to leave it.

This side wall nitride film becomes in unison with the nitride film 21on the polycide electrode and continuously covers the upper surface andside surface of the gate electrode, forming a nitride film region 24.

At this process, although the periphery of the polycide electrode madeof the silicon film 19 and WSi film 20 is covered with the nitride filmregion 24, the oxide film 22 exists on the side wall of the polycideelectrode. It is therefore possible to prevent the WSi film 20 frombeing separated from the substrate at later heat treatments or and thelike.

Next, an oxide film is grown to 2 to 10 nm by thermal oxidation. In thiscase, this oxidation may be performed after removing the oxide film 22exposed over the silicon substrate by hydrofluoric acid containingetchant. Although it is preferable to remove this exposed oxide film,from the viewpoint of controllability of film thickness, there is adanger of etching also the field oxide film 17 and the oxide film 22under the side wall nitride film.

With this oxidation, mainly the surface of the active region of thesilicon substrate is oxidized and this oxidized film becomes in unisonwith the oxide film 22. The silicon film 19 and WSi film 20 covered withthe nitride film region 24 are not oxidized. In this embodiment, thisunified oxide film is collectively called hereinafter an oxide film 22.

Next, a resist pattern is formed exposing the n-channel MOS transistorregion in the peripheral circuit area excepting the memory cell area. Byusing the gate electrodes with the nitride film region 24 as a mask,n-type impurity ions, arsenic, are implanted at a dose of 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻²into the opening area of the resist pattern. In the n-channel MOStransistor region in the peripheral circuit area, an impurity diffusionregion 25 of high concentration is formed as the n-layer of the LDDstructure.

The reason why n-type impurity ions are not implanted into thesource/drain regions of transistors in the memory cell area is toprevent crystal detects to be formed by implantation of ions at a highimpurity concentration and suppress leak current from a capacitor whichstores small electric charges.

Next, a resist pattern is formed exposing the p-channel MOS transistorregion in the peripheral circuit area. By using the gate electrodes withthe nitride film region 24 as a mask, BF₂ ⁺ ions are implanted at a doseof 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻² into the opening area of the resist pattern to form animpurity diffusion region serving as a source/drain region of thep-channel MOS transistor.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, a borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) film 26 isgrown to a thickness of 100 to 200 nm by CVD, and thereafter, heattreatment is performed at a temperature of 750 to 900 ° C. to planarizethe surface of the BPSG film 26 through reflow.

Etch-back or CMP may be used to further planarize the surface, or acombination of these processes may be used for planarization.

If etch-back or CMP is used, the BPSG film is grown thickercorrespondingly by an amount to be removed, in order to set the filmthickness after etch-back or CMP to 100 to 200 nm.

Next, a resist pattern is formed having an opening which exposes thesource/drain regions of a MOS transistor in the memory cell area. Byusing this resist pattern as a mask, the BPSG Film 26 and oxide film 22exposed in the opening are sequentially etched by RIE using, forexample, mixed gas of C₄F₈ and CO to thereby expose the substratesurface and form a contact window 27.

The bottom of the contact window 27 is defined in a self alignmentmanner by the spacer of the nitride film region 24. Since the sidesurface of the polycide gate electrode is all covered with the nitridefilm and the oxide film is not exposed, the oxide film is not etched andremoved even if there is misalignment of the opening of the resistpattern. Therefore, the gate electrode and contact electrode will not beelectrically shorted as in the case of conventional techniques describedwith FIGS. 35A and 35B.

Etching the BPSG film 26 and oxide film 22 is preferably performed underthe conditions that an etching selection ratio of the BPSG film 26 andoxide film 22 to the nitride film is 10 or higher so as not to etch thenitride film region 24.

Next, after the resist pattern is removed, by using the BPSG film 26 andnitride film region 24 as a mask, n-type impurity ions, phosphorus, areimplanted at a dose of 3×10¹³ cm⁻² into the silicon substrate exposed inthe contact window 27 to thereby form an n-type diffusion region 28. Thedose for this n-type diffusion region 28 in this embodiment is smallerby double digits than that of the n-type diffusion region 25.

Although this n-type diffusion region 28 is not necessarily required,presence of this region solves a problem of large Junction leak near atthe edge portion of the field oxide film 17 where n-type impurities forforming the source/drain region are not implanted, even if the contacthole 27 is displaced and formed riding over the edge portion of thefield oxide film 17.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5B, a phosphorus doped silicon film is formed byCVD over the whole surface of the substrate, and a plug 29 of thesilicon film is left in the contact hole by etch-back or CMP.

The plug 29 of silicon may be formed by selective CVD without usingetch-back or CMP.

An oxide film 30 is then formed by CVD to a thickness of 30 to 100 nm.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6A, a resist pattern having an opening at a bitline connection area is formed. By using this resist pattern as a mask,the oxide film 30 is etched to form a contact window 31 exposing part ofthe upper surface of the silicon plug 29. Thereafter, the resist patternis removed.

Next, a phosphorus doped silicon film 32 of 30 nm thick, a WSi film 33of 50 nm thick, and a silicon nitride film 24 of 80 nm are sequentiallyformed by CVD.

The lamination of these films is patterned to have a desired wiringpattern by well know photolithography. The polycide electrode of thislamination forms a bit line (13 in FIG. 2) in the memory cell area, andis also used as a wiring layer other than the bit line in the peripheralcircuit area.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6B, an oxide film 35 is grown to a thickness of 2to 10 nm by thermal oxidation. The oxide film is therefore formed on theside wall of the polycide structure of the silicon film 32 and WSi film33. Since the silicon nitride film is not oxidized, no oxide film isformed on the side wall of the silicon nitride film 34.

A silicon nitride film is formed to a thickness of 50 to 150 nm andanisotropically etched by RIE to form a spacer of nitride on the sidewall of the bit line. The sidewall nitride film is made in unison withthe nitride film 34 on the polycide electrode and becomes a nitride filmregion 36 continuously covering the upper surface and side surface ofthe polycide electrode.

With the above process, the periphery of the polycide electrode of thesilicon film 32 and WSi film 33 is covered with the nitride film region36. Since the oxide film 35 is formed on the side wall of the polycideelectrode, the WSi film 33 can be prevented from being separated fromthe substrate, at later heat treatments or the like.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, a BPSG film 37 is grown to a thickness of 500nm by CVD, and thereafter heat treatment is performed at a temperatureof 750 to 900 ° C. to planarize the surface thereof by reflow.

For further planarization, etch-back or CMP may be used or a combinationthereof may be used.

If etch-back or CMP is used, the BPSG film is grown thickercorrespondingly by an amount to be removed, to thereby set the filmthickness after etch-back or CMP to 500 nm.

The thickness of the BPSG film 37 is one of the factors which determinethe capacitance of a memory capacitor if the cylinder type storageelectrode is used. Therefore, if a large capacitance is necessary, thefilm thickness of the BPSG film 37 is made thicker than 500 nm.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, a resist pattern having an opening exposing acapacitor connection area is formed. By using this resist pattern as amask, the BPSG film 37 and oxide film 30 are sequentially etched by RIEusing, for example, mixed gas of C₄F₈ and CO to form a contact window 38exposing the upper surface of the silicon plug 29.

If a cylinder type storage electrode is used, the size of the contactwindow 38 is generally related to the bottom area and itscircumferential length of the cylinder type storage electrode.Therefore, in order to increase the capacitance, it is desired to form acontact window as large as possible.

In this embodiment, the contact window 38 is defined in self alignmentwith the bit line because of the nitride film region 36. Therefore, thecontact window can be extended to the upper portion of the polycideelectrode serving as the bit line so that the bottom area and itscircumferential length can be increased.

Furthermore, since the periphery of the polycide electrode (bit line) iscompletely covered with the nitride film region 36 which is not etchedand removed, the bit line and storage electrode are not electricallyshorted.

Etching the BPSG film 37 and oxide film 30 is preferably performed underthe conditions that the etching selection ratio of the BPSG film 37 andoxide film 30 to the nitride film is 10 or higher.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, after the resist pattern is removed, aphosphorous doped silicon film is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50 nmand etched by etch-back or CMP to leave a silicon film 39 only on theside wall and bottom of the contact window 38.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the BPSG film 37 is etched by hydrofluoricacid containing etchant and left for a thickness of, for example, 150nm. In this state, a hollow cylinder type storage electrode 39 isformed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, a silicon nitride film is formed by CVD to athickness of 40 nm, and thermally oxidized by 1 to 2 nm to form acapacitor insulating film 39 a on the surface of the storage electrode39 and on the BPSG film 37 (the capacitor insulating film is shownintegrally with the surfaces of the storage electrode 39 and the BPSGfilm 37 in FIG. 10).

Then, as shown in FIG. 11, a phosphorous doped silicon film is formed byCVD to a thickness of 50 nm and patterned to form an opposing electrode40 of the capacitor. At the patterning step, an unnecessary capacitorinsulating film 39 a is removed at the area outside of the pattern ofthe opposing electrode 40.

Next, as shown in FIG. 12, a BPSG film 41 is grown by CVD to a thicknessof 1 μm and subjected to heat treatment at a temperature of 750 to 900 °C. to planarize the surface thereof by reflow.

For further planarization, etch-back or CMP may be used or a combinationthereof may be used.

With the above planarizing process, a difference of height between thememory cell area and peripheral circuit area is very small and generallythe flat surface can be obtained.

Next, as shown in FIG. 13, contact windows 42 to 45 are formed. Thecontact window 42 is used for contact with the opposing electrode 40,the contact hole 43 is used for contact with a wiring layer of thesilicon film 32 and WSi film 33 in the peripheral circuit area, thecontact hole 44 is used for contact with a wiring layer of the siliconfilm 19 and WSi film 20 in the peripheral circuit area, and the contacthole 45 is used for contact with the diffusion region 25 of a MOStransistor in the peripheral circuit area.

Since the BPSG film 41 is subjected to the planarizing process, itssurface irregularity can be suppressed within the depth of focus of anexposure apparatus used at a resist exposure process. Size accuracy cantherefore be prevented from being lowered.

It is desired to open these contact windows by a single photolithographyprocess in order to reduce the number of processes. However, since thedepths of the contact windows are very different, while the contactwindow 45 for the lowermost diffusion region 25 is formed, the contactwindow 42 for the uppermost opposing electrode 40 may penetrate throughthe opposing electrode and at the worst the lower wiring layer iselectrically shorted.

This problem that the contact window penetrates through the conductivelayer can be solved by dividing the window forming process into aplurality of processes for deep and shallow windows. For example, theprocess of forming the contact windows 42 to 45 is divided into twoprocesses for the opposing electrode and for the other conductivelayers, or for the opposing electrode and bit line and for the word lineand diffusion region.

Next, as shown in FIG. 14, a titanium (Ti) film, a titanium nitride(TiN) film, and a tungsten (W) film are sequentially formed respectivelyby sputtering, reactive sputtering, and CVD, and patterned to form afirst metal wiring layer 46.

The first metal wiring layer 46 is also disposed in the memory cell areain parallel to the word line, and mainly used for interconnections to aword decoder and a subsidiary word decoder.

Although not shown, thereafter, an interlayer insulating film is grownover the first metal wiring layer 46 and planarized by CMP.

After contact windows are formed in the interlayer insulating film overthe first metal wiring layer 46, a second wiring layer is formed andpatterned. The second metal wiring layer may be a lamination of a TiNfilm, an aluminum (Al) film, and a TiN film.

The second metal wiring layer in the memory cell area is disposed inparallel to the bit line, and mainly used for interconnections to acolumn decoder and a sense amplifier.

The second metal wiring layer is also used as bonding pads.

Lastly, as a passivation film, a silicon oxide film and a siliconnitride film are sequentially formed by CVD. The passivation film on thebonding pad is etched to complete a DRAM. For these processes, forexample, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,623 issued on Oct.1, 1996, which is incorporated therein by reference.

In this embodiment, the polycide electrode constituting the word line,gate electrode, bit line, and wiring in the peripheral circuit area iscovered with the nitride film spacer, and the oxide film is formed onthe side wall of the polycide electrode under the nitride spacer.Therefore, the polycide electrode can be prevented from being separatedfrom the substrate at later heat treatments.

Furthermore, the polycide gate electrode is completely covered with thenitride film and the oxide film is not exposed. Therefore, the oxidefilm is not etched when the self align contact window is formed evenwith misalignment and therefore the polycide electrode and upper levelwiring layer are not electrically shorted.

The thicker the oxide film 22 formed on the side wall of the gateelectrode, the more resistant against separation of the silicide film.However, if the oxide film 22 is formed by thermal oxidation, thesubstrate is oxidized at the same time and an oxide film region called agate bird's beak thicker than the gate oxide film is formed at theopposite ends under the gate electrode. This gate bird's beak maydeteriorate the characteristics of MOS transistors. Therefore, thethickness of the oxide film 22 is determined while taken this intoconsideration.

2nd DRAM

In the embodiment of the first DRAM, the oxide film is formed only onthe side wall of the polycide electrode. As a modification of this, thestructure that the oxide film completely covers the polycide electrodeas shown in FIG. 1B will be described with reference to FIGS. 15A and15B and FIGS. 16A and 16B. Similar to the first DRAM embodiment, FIGS.15A and 15B and FIGS. 16A and 16B are schematic cross sectional viewsshowing a memory cell area taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 2 and a typicalwiring structure of a peripheral circuit area.

FIG. 15A shows an example of a gate electrode and a word line (12 inFIG. 2) to which the structure shown in FIG. 1B is applied.

A field oxide film 17 is formed on a p-type silicon substrate 16 by thesame method as described with FIG. 3A.

Next, as shown in FIG. 15A, the substrate surface is oxidized to form agate oxide film 18 to a thickness of 8 nm. On this gate oxide film 18, aphosphorous doped silicon film 19 having a thickness of 50 nm and a WSifilm 20 having a thickness of 50 nm are sequentially deposited by CVD.

Then, an oxide film 47 is formed to a thickness of 3 to 50 nm. This filmmay be formed either by thermal oxidation or CVD. The thermal oxidationis more preferable because a structure more resistant to separation orpeel-off can be obtained. If the oxide film is formed by thermaloxidation, the polycide film is thinned. In this case, therefore, it isalso effective to use a method of forming a thin oxide film by thermaloxidation and thereafter forming an oxide film by CVD to obtain adesired oxide thickness.

After a silicon nitride film 21 is formed by CVD to a thickness of 80nm, the lamination of these films is patterned into a gate electrode anda wiring layer.

As different from the first DRAM, the lamination is formed by thesilicon film 19, WSi film 20, oxide film 47, and silicon nitride film21.

Next, as shown in FIG. 15B, a heat treatment is performed to grow athermal oxide film to 2 to 10 nm thick. This oxidation forms an oxidefilm on the side wall of the polycide structure of the silicon film 19and WSi film 20, the oxide film becoming in unison with the oxide film47 to form an oxide film region 48.

Then, similar to the first DRAM, by using the gate electrode as a mask,n-type impurity ions, phosphorous, are doped at a dose of 1×10¹³ cm⁻²over the whole surface of the substrate. An impurity doped region 23corresponding to an n⁻-type region of an LDD structure is thereforeformed in the n-channel MOS transistor region.

Then, a silicon nitride film is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50 to150 nm and anisotropically etched to form a nitride film region 24covering the oxide film region 48.

Thereafter, by using the similar processes to the first DRAM, the secondDRAM is completed.

In this embodiment, the oxide film is formed not only on the side wallsof the silicon film 19 and WSi film 20 but also on the upper surface ofthe WSi film 20 so that the polycide electrode does not directly contactthe silicon nitride film. Therefore, a structure more resistant toseparation or peel-off of the WSi film can be obtained.

3rd DRAM

FIGS. 16A and 16B show a bit line (13 in FIG. 2) in the memory cell areato which the structure shown in FIG. 1B is applied.

The processes similar to the embodiment of the first DRAM are performedup to that shown in FIG. 5B to form a silicon oxide film 30 on aplanarized BPSG film 26.

As shown in FIG. 16A, a resist pattern having an opening at the bit lineconnection area is formed. By using the resist pattern as a mask, theoxide film 30 is etched to form a contact window 31 which exposes partof the upper surface of the silicon plug 29. Thereafter, the resistpattern is removed.

Successively, a phosphorous doped silicon film 32 is formed to athickness of 30 nm, a WSi film 33 is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50nm, and thereafter an oxide film 49 of 3 to 50 nm is formed. Thestructure of these films and manufacture methods thereof are the same asthose previously described with word lines of the 2nd DRAM.

Next, after a silicon nitride film 21 is formed by CVD to a thickness of80 nm, the lamination of these films is patterned to form bit lines anda wiring layer.

As shown in FIG. 16B, an oxide film is grown to a thickness of 2 to 10nm by thermal oxidation. The oxide film is therefore formed on the sidewall of the polycide structure of the silicon film 32 and WSi film 33.An oxide film region 50 in unison with the oxide film 49 is thereforeformed.

Next, a silicon nitride film is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50 to150 nm and anisotropically etched by RIE to form a nitride film region36 covering the oxide film region 50.

Thereafter, the processes similar to the first DRAM are performed tocomplete a DRAM.

Also in this embodiment, similar to the word line, the oxide film isformed not only on the side walls of the silicon film 32 and WSi film 33but also on the upper surface of the WSi film 33, so that the polycideelectrode does not directly contact the silicon nitride film. Astructure more resistant to separation of the WSi film can therefore beprovided.

In the above description, the polycide structure completely covered withthe oxide film and the polycide structure partially covered with theoxide film are used for the word line and bit line in the memory cellarea. Obviously, such polycide structures may be used singularly or incombination for both the word and bit lines.

Also in this embodiment, as the oxide film covering the gate electrodeis made thicker, the structure becomes more resistant to separation ofthe silicide film. However, if the oxide film on the side wall of thegate electrode is formed by thermal oxidation, the oxide film cannot bemade too thick because the MOS transistor characteristics may bedeteriorated by the gate oxide bird's beak as described earlier. Theoxide film on the upper surface of the gate electrode may be madethicker than that on the side wall of the gate electrode to provide thestructure more resistant to separation without deteriorating the MOStransistor characteristics.

4th DRAM

A manufacture method according to another embodiment of the inventionwill be described with reference to FIGS. 17A to 23. Similar to theabove embodiments, FIGS. 17A to 23 are schematic cross sectional viewsshowing a memory cell area taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 2 and a typicalwiring structure of a peripheral circuit area.

The processes similar to the first RAM are performed up to the processillustrated in FIG. 4B. With these processes, polycide electrodesconstituting the word lines and gate electrodes, nitride film regions,and the like are formed.

As shown in FIG. 17A, a BPSG film 26 is grown to a thickness of 100 to200 nm by CVD, and thereafter, heat treatment is performed at atemperature of 750 to 900 ° C. to planarize the surface of the BPSG film26 through reflow.

Etch-back or CMP may be used to further planarize the surface, similarto the first embodiment.

On the planarized BPSG film 26, a silicon nitride film 51 is grown byCVD to a thickness of 10 to 50 nm.

As shown in FIG. 17B, a resist pattern is formed having an opening whichexposes the source/drain regions of a MOS transistor in the memory cellarea. By using this resist pattern as a mask, the nitride film 51, BPSGfilm 26, and oxide film 22 are sequentially etched to expose thesubstrate surface and form a contact window 27.

Etching the nitride film 51 is performed by RIE using CF₄ gas. When thesurface of the BPSG film 26 is exposed, the gas is changed to mixed gasof C₄F₈ and CO to etch the BPSG film by RIE under the conditions of ahigher etching selection ratio of oxide film relative to the nitridefilm so that the nitride film area 24 is not etched. The etching ratioto the nitride film is preferably 10 or higher.

Also in this embodiment, the contact hole 27 is defined by a selfalignment manner because of the nitride film spacer 24 and the polycidegate electrode is completely covered with the nitride film withoutexposing the oxide film. Therefore, the oxide film inside the spacer isnot etched and removed even if there is misalignment of the opening ofthe resist pattern. Therefore, the gate electrode and contact electrodewill not be electrically shorted as in the case of conventionaltechniques described with FIGS. 35A to 37.

Similar to the first DRAM, after the resist pattern is removed, by usingthe BPSG film 26 and nitride film region 24 as a mask, n-type impurityions, phosphorus, are implanted at a dose of 3×10¹³ cm⁻² into thesilicon substrate exposed in the contact window 27 to thereby form ann-type diffusion region 28.

Next, as shown in FIG. 18A, a phosphorus doped silicon film is formed byCVD over the whole surface of the substrate, and a plug 29 of thesilicon film is left in the contact hole 27 by etch-back or CMP.

The plug 29 of silicon may be formed by selective CVD without usingetch-back or CMP.

A silicon oxide film 30 is then formed by CVD to a thickness of 30 to100 nm.

As shown in FIG. 18B, a resist pattern having an opening at a bit lineconnection area is formed. By using this resist pattern as a mask, theoxide film 30 is etched to form a contact window 31 exposing part of theupper surface of the silicon plug 29. Thereafter, the resist pattern isremoved.

Next, a phosphorus doped silicon film 32 of 30 nm thick, a WSi film 33of 50 nm thick, and a silicon nitride film 34 of 80 nm thick aresequentially formed by CVD.

The lamination of these films is patterned to have a desired wiringpattern by well know photolithography. Another nitride film is depositedand subjected to RIE to leave a nitride film 36 (see FIG. 19). Thepolycide electrode of this lamination corresponds to a bit line (13 inFIG. 2) in the memory cell area, and to a wiring layer other than thebit line in the peripheral circuit area.

Next, as shown in FIG. 19, a BPSG film 37 is grown to a thickness of 500nm by CVD, and thereafter, heat treatment is performed at a temperatureof 750 to 900 ° C. to planarize the surface of the BPSG film 37 throughreflow.

Etch-back or CMP may be used to further planarize the surface, or acombination of these processes may be used for planarization.

Next, a resist pattern having an opening exposing the capacitorconnection area is formed. By using this resist pattern as a mask, theBPSG Film 37 and oxide film 30 exposed in the opening are sequentiallyetched by RIE using, for example, mixed gas of C₄F₄ and CO to therebyform a contact window 38 exposing the upper surface of the silicon plug29.

In this case, since the side surface of the polycide gate electrode iscompletely covered with the nitride film region 36, the oxide film isnot etched and the bit line and storage electrode are not electricallyshorted.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM, as shown in FIG. 8, the BPSG film26 is formed under the oxide film 30. Therefore, when the contact window38 is formed by etching the BPSG film 37 and oxide film 30, there is adanger of etching the BPSG film 26 and forming a trench at the side ofthe plug 29 in the capacitor connection area.

Then, the shape and area of the storage electrode formed on the trenchchange and so the capacitance changes. There is therefore a possibilitythat stable characteristics cannot be obtained.

In contrast, in this embodiment, the nitride film 51 is formed under theoxide film 30. This nitride film 51 functions as an etching stopper atthe connection area of the storage electrode when the BPSG film 37 andoxide film 30 are etched. Therefore, no trench is formed at the side ofthe plug 29 in the capacitor connection area. It is therefore possibleto obtain stable capacitance and improve DRAM manufacture yield.

Next, as shown in FIG. 20, after the resist pattern is removed, aphosphorous doped silicon film is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50 nm.The silicon film on the top flat surface is removed by polishing, forexample chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), or etch-back and a siliconfilm 39 is left at the side wall and bottom of the contact window 38.

Then, the BPSG film 37 is completely etched by using hydrofluoric acidcontaining etchant and by using the nitride film 51 as an etchingstopper, to thereby form a hollow cylindrical storage electrode 39.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM, as shown in FIG. 9, after thesilicon film 39 is left only at the side wall and bottom of the contactwindow 38, the BPSG film is etched to a predetermined depth byhydrofluoric acid containing etchant as shown in FIG. 10 to thereby formthe hollow cylindrical storage electrode 39.

In this embodiment, by using the nitride film 51 as an etching stopper,the BPSG film 37 outside the silicon film 39 can be etched completely byhydrofluoric acid containing etchant. Therefore, variation of etchingamounts of the BPSG film 37 is small so that the outer area of thecylinder type storage electrode can be maintained constant. It istherefore possible to manufacture stable DRAM cells with less variationof capacitance values.

As shown in FIG. 21, a silicon nitride film is formed by CVD to athickness of 40 nm, and thermally oxidized by 1 to 2 nm to thereby forma capacitor insulating film 39 a on the surface of the storage electrode39 (the capacitor insulating film is shown integrally with the surfaceof the storage electrode 39 in FIG. 21).

Next, the phosphorous doped silicon film is formed by CVD to a thicknessof 50 nm and patterned to form an opposing electrode 40 of thecapacitor. At the patterning step, an unnecessary capacitor insulatingfilm and silicon nitride film 51 are etched at the same time at the areaoutside of the pattern of the opposing electrode 40.

In this state, although the silicon nitride film 51 may be leftunetched, it is rather preferable to remove it from the followingreason. If the silicon nitride film is left at the peripheral circuitarea, the succeeding process of forming a contact window for thediffusion region in the peripheral circuit area becomes complicatedbecause both the oxide film and silicon nitride film should be etched.In addition, because of a difference of etching characteristics betweensilicon oxide film and silicon nitride film, the silicon nitride film inthe contact window may form an overhang or eaves which may result inbreakage of a metal wiring layer formed in the contact window.

At the same time when the silicon nitride film 51 is etched, the siliconnitride film region 36 of the wiring layer in the peripheral circuitarea is etched. It is therefore preferable that the silicon nitride film34 (see FIG. 18B) on the WSi film 33 constituting the silicon nitridefilm region 36 is set thicker than the silicon nitride film 51.

The succeeding processes are similar to the embodiment of the firstDRAM, which processes form interlayer insulating film, contact windowsand metal wiring layers to complete a DRAM.

As compared to the embodiment of the first DRAM, this embodiment usesthe nitride film 51 serving as an etching stopper layer. The area of thestorage electrode can be maintained constant during the processes offorming the storage electrode and its contact window. Therefore, stablecapacitance can be obtained and the DRAM manufacture yield can beimproved.

As another advantageous effect, a stable process of forming a contactwindow for the bit line can be expected.

This will be clarified with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23.

FIGS. 22 and 23 are schematic cross sectional views of the memory cellarea taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 1A, illustrating a displaced contactwindow 31 shown in FIG. 18B. FIG. 22 shows no silicon nitride film 51under the oxide film 30 and corresponds to the embodiment of the firstDRAM, and FIG. 23 has the silicon nitride film 51 under the oxide film30 and corresponds to the embodiment of the fourth DRAM.

With the processes of the embodiment of the first DRAM, as shown in FIG.22 if the contact window 31 is formed at a displaced area, the BPSG film26 can be etched at the same time when the oxide film 30 is etched and atrench is formed at the side of the silicon plug 29.

This trench may break the bit line formed on the higher level layer ormay be left as a void without being filled, or conversely the wiringlayer left in the trench may electrically short adjacent plugs 29. Thereis therefore a danger of some adverse effects on the device.

In contrast, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 23 even if the contactwindow 31 is formed at a displaced area, the nitride film 51 functionsas the etching stopper. Therefore, there is no danger of etching theBPSG film 26 and no trench is formed at the side of the silicon plug 29,dispensing with the above adverse effects.

By positively using this nitride film stopper 51, it becomes possible tomake the size of the contact widow 31 larger than the silicon plug 29 sothat a margin of a process of forming a contact window can be increased.

5th DRAM

A fifth DRAM according to another embodiment of the invention will bedescribed with reference to the schematic cross sectional views of FIGS.24 to 28. Similar to the embodiments of the first and second DRAMs,FIGS. 24 to 28 are schematic cross sectional views showing a memory cellarea taken along line A-A′ of FIG. 2 and a typical wiring structure of aperipheral circuit area.

The processes similar to the embodiment of the first RAM are performedup to the process illustrated in FIG. 6B. With these processes, thepolycide electrodes 32, 33 and silicon nitride film regions 36, and thelike are formed above the word lines and MOS transistors of theperipheral circuit area, to serve as the bit lines and wiring layers inthe peripheral circuit area.

As shown in FIG. 24, a BPSG film 52 is grown by CVD over the wholesurface of the substrate, and thereafter, heat treatment is performed ata temperature of 750 to 900 ° C. to planarize the surface of the BPSGfilm 52 through reflow.

Etch-back or CMP may be used to further planarize the surface, or thecombination of these processes may be used.

Next, a silicon nitride film 53 and a BPSG film 54 are sequentiallygrown by CVD.

The total thickness of the BPSG films 52 and 54 is set to 500 nm, andthat of the silicon nitride film 53 is set to 10 to 50 nm.

The thickness of the BPSG film 52 is so set that it can be planarized.The thickness of the BPSG film 54 defines the area of the outer surfaceof the cylinder type storage electrode directly related to thecapacitance. Therefore, the thickness of the BPSG film 54 is determinedfrom a necessary capacitance. The thickness ratio and total thickness ofthe BPSG films 52 and 54 are therefore set in accordance with the abovetwo conditions.

A resist pattern is formed having an opening which exposes the capacitorconnection area. By using this resist pattern as a mask, the BPSG film54 exposed in the opening of the resist pattern is etched by RIE usingmixed gas of C₄F₈ and CO, the nitride film 53 is next etched by RIEusing CF₄ gas, and then the BPSG film 52 and oxide film 30 aresequentially etched by RIE using mixed gas of C₄F₈ and CO, as shown inFIG. 25, to thereby form a contact window 38 exposing the upper surfaceof the silicon plug 29.

As shown in FIG. 26, after the resist film is removed, a phosphorusdoped silicon film is formed by CVD to a thickness of 50 nm over thewhole surface of the substrate, and by using etch-back or CMP, a siliconfilm 39 is left only at the bottom and side wall of he contact window38.

As shown in FIG. 27, the BPSG film 54 outside the silicon film 39 iscompletely etched by using hydrofluoric acid containing etchant. Sincethe nitride film 53 functions as the etching stopper, only the BPSG film54 can be completely removed. With this process, a hollow cylindricalstorage electrode 39 can be formed.

Also in this embodiment, similar to the embodiment of the fourth DRAM,the BPSG film 54 outside the cylinder type storage electrode 39 can becompletely removed. Therefore, the outer area of the cylinder typestorage electrode can be maintained constant. It is therefore possibleto manufacture stable DRAM cells with less variation of capacitancevalues.

As shown in FIG. 28, a silicon nitride film is formed by CVD to athickness of 40 nm, and thermally oxidized by 1 to 2 nm to thereby forma capacitor insulating film on the surface of the storage electrode 39 a(the capacitor insulating film is shown integrally with the surface ofthe storage electrode 39 in FIG. 28).

Next, the phosphorous doped silicon film is formed by CVD to a thicknessof 50 nm and patterned to form an opposing electrode 40 of thecapacitor. Following the patterning of the electrode 40, an unnecessarycapacitor insulating film and silicon nitride film 53 are etched at thearea outside of the pattern of the opposing electrode 40.

In this case, similar to the embodiment of the fourth DRAM, although thesilicon nitride film 53 may be left unetched, it is rather preferable toremove it in the peripheral circuit area from the following reason. Ifthe silicon nitride film is left at the peripheral circuit area, thesucceeding process of forming a contact window for the diffusion regionin the peripheral circuit area becomes complicated because both theoxide film and silicon nitride film should be etched. In addition,because of a difference of etching characteristics between silicon oxideand silicon nitride, the silicon nitride film in the contact window mayform an overhang or eaves which may result in breakage of a metal wiringlayer formed in the contact window.

The succeeding processes are similar to the embodiment of the firstDRAM, which processes form interlayer insulating layer, contact windowsand metal wiring layers to complete a DRAM.

In this embodiment, only the BPSG film 54 outside of the cylinder typestorage electrode 39 can be completely removed. It is therefore possibleto manufacture stable DRAM cells with less variation of capacitancevalues.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM, after the capacitor opposingelectrode 40 is formed as shown in FIG. 11, planarization is performedby using the insulating film as shown in FIG. 12. In this embodiment ofthe fifth DRAM, it is obvious that planarization at the later processbecomes easier because a difference of height between the memory cellarea and peripheral circuit area is reduced.

In this embodiment, therefore, process design can be carried out byconsidering both the effects that stable capacitance can be obtained andthat planarization becomes easy because of a small difference of heightbetween the memory cell area and peripheral circuit area. It istherefore possible to manufacture DRAMs of stable characteristics.

The nitride film 53 is etched at the same time when the opposingelectrode 40 is patterned. Therefore, similar to the embodiment of thefourth DRAM, problems to be caused by the silicon nitride film in theperipheral circuit area can be eliminated.

As different from the embodiment of the fourth DRAM, the BPSG film 52exists under the silicon nitride film 53 so that the BPSG film 52 can beetched by using the silicon nitride film 53 as the etching stopper andthere is no fear of etching the silicon nitride film region 36 of thewiring layer in the peripheral circuit area corresponding to the bitline in the memory cell area.

6th DRAM

The manufacture method of a sixth DRAM according to another embodimentof the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 29 and 30.This embodiment pertains to a method of forming the contact windows 42to 45 for the first metal wiring layer of the embodiment of the fourthDRAM shown in FIG. 21, followed by the processes as shown in FIGS. 12and 13.

FIG. 29 shows the contact windows 42 to 45 formed by the embodimentmethod, after the opposing electrode 40 is formed and the BPSG film isplanarized by the embodiment method of the first DRAM.

First, a first step of forming the contact windows 42 to 45 is performedto etch the BPSG film 41 at a sufficiently large etching ratio of theBPSG film 41 to the nitride film. This etching may use mixed gas of C₄F₈and CO used for forming the nitride film SAC structure.

The first etching step continues until the surface of the lowermostdiffusion region 25 is exposed. Although the opposing electrode 40 atthe uppermost layer is etched and removed, the etching stops at thislevel and the lower BPSG film 26 is not etched because the nitride film51 exists under the opposing electrode. The etching of the contactwindows also stops at the nitride film regions 36 and 24.

Next, a second etching step etches the silicon nitride film at a largeetching ratio of the silicon nitride film relative to etching of anoxide film such as BPSG, by using, for example, mixed gas of CHF₃ andO₂. With this process, the nitride film regions 36 and 24 at the bottomsof the contact windows 43 and 44 can be removed.

When the nitride film is etched, the nitride film 51 under the opposingelectrode 40 is also etched. However, etching stops at the underlyingBPSG film 26 so that the opposing electrode 40 and the lower wiringlayer are not electrically shorted at the contact window 42. Thiscontact window structure poses no practical problem because the firstmetal wiring layer formed in the contact window is electricallyconnected to the opposing electrode 40 at its side wall.

FIG. 30 shows the contact windows 42 to 45 formed by the embodimentmethod after the opposing electrode 40 is formed and the BPSG film isplanarized by the embodiment method of the fifth DRAM as shown in FIG.26, followed by the processes as shown in FIGS. 10 to 13.

Since the DRAM shown in FIG. 30 has the nitride film 53 and BPSG film 52under the opposing electrode 40 similar to the DRAM shown in FIG. 29,the above-described two etching steps can be used. Therefore, thecontact windows 42 to 45 can be formed by a single photolithographyprocess without a problem of short circuit to the underlying wiringlayer.

With this embodiment, contact windows can be formed by a singlephotolithography process even for the structure having different contactwindow depths.

If the nitride film is not formed at the bottoms of the contact windows43 and 44 and the first step can expose the surfaces of the wiring layerand the gate electrode, the second step of etching the nitride film isnot necessary.

The method of forming a contact window of this embodiment is not limitedto only to the above. For example, it is obvious that the sameadvantages can be obtained by providing a nitride film under a higherlevel wiring layer among a plurality of wiring layers and using thenitride film as the etching stopper.

However, if this embodiment itself is used without modification, inaddition to the advantages specific to this embodiment, the advantagesof the embodiments of the fourth and fifth DRAMs can be obtained.

7th DRAM

A method of manufacturing a seventh DRAM according to another embodimentof the invention will be described with reference to the schematic crosssectional view of FIG. 31.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM shown in FIG. 5A, the BPSG film 24is planarized by reflow, etch-back, or CMP.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 31, the BPSG film 26 formed on thegate electrode and word line is planarized by CMP by using the siliconnitride film region 24 on the field oxide layer 17 as its stopper layer.

A distance from the substrate to the silicon nitride film region 24covering the polycide electrode of the gate electrode on the activeregion is different from that of the wiring layer on the field oxidefilm 17. In this embodiment, only the higher nitride film spacer is usedas the stopper layer and the BPSG film 26 is left on the lower nitridefilm spacer.

For example, if silica containing material is used as abrasive material,the BPSG film can be abraded or polished at a high abrasion or polishingselection ratio of the BPSG film to the silicon nitride film.

This stopper layer not only planarizes the BPSG film 26 but also reducesa variation of film thickness.

If there is a variation of film thickness of the planarized BPSG film,the etching amount at the later contact window forming process isscattered. In order to obtain a reliable contact, it is necessary tocompletely remove the BPSG film in the contact window so that anover-etch amount of the BPSG film is required to be made large.

This over-etch reduces the thickness of the nitride film spacer of thenitride film spacer SAC structure, increasing a danger of a shortcircuit between the polycide electrode and upper wiring layer.Therefore, the stable film thickness of the BPSG film is particularlyimportant.

In this embodiment, the nitride film region 24 itself which is necessaryfor the nitride spacer SAC structure is used without forming anadditional stopper layer. The number of processes does not thereforeincreases.

After the BPSG film is planarized by CMP, another BPSG film may beformed to thicken the interlayer insulating film and reduce parasiticcapacitance. As described with the embodiment of the fourth DRAM, thecontact window forming process may be performed after the siliconnitride film is formed.

The thickness of the BPSG film 26 influences the parasitic capacitanceof the bit line formed at the upper layer. If the variation of filmthickness is reduced as in this embodiment, the variation of bit linecapacitance can be reduced and the operation stability of DRAM can beimproved.

Also in this embodiment, only the nitride spacer of the word line andwiring layer on the field insulating film is used as the stopper layer,and the nitride film spacer of the gate electrode on the active regionis not used as the stopper layer.

Therefore, while the BPSG film is abraded by CMP, the nitride filmspacer at the active region will not be abraded and the film thicknessis not reduced.

With the nitride film SAC, a contact window is formed in a selfalignment manner by using the nitride film spacer as a mask. The contactwindow is formed not over the field insulating film but over thediffusion region in the active region. Therefore, the nitride filmspacer SAC process can use as a mask the nitride film whose thickness isnot reduced during planarization by CMP.

In this embodiment, therefore, while planarization by CMP can beperformed with high controllability by using the stopper layer, thepolycide electrode and upper wiring layer can be avoided from beingelectrically shorted via the contact hole formed by the nitride filmspacer SAC process.

With this embodiment, product yield and operation stability can beimproved without increasing the number of processes.

8th DRAM

A method of manufacturing an eighth DRAM according to another embodimentof the invention will be described with reference to the schematic crosssectional view of FIG. 32.

In this embodiment, the techniques of the embodiment of the seventh DRAMis utilized for the process of planarizing the surface of the BPSG filmon the conductive layer of bit lines.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM shown in FIG. 7, the BPSG film isplanarized by reflow, etch-back, or CMP.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 32, the BPSG film 37 formed on thebit line is planarized by CMP by using the silicon nitride film region36 as its stopper layer.

For example, if silica containing material is used as abrasive material,the BPSG film can be abraded at a high abrasion selection ratio of theBPSG film to the silicon nitride film, similar to the embodiment of theseventh DRAM.

This stopper layer not only planarizes the BPSG film 37 but also reducesa variation of film thickness.

If there is a variation of film thickness of the planarized BPSG film,the etching amount at the later contact window forming process isscattered. Therefore, if the thickness of the nitride film spacer of thenitride film spacer SAC structure is reduced, a danger of a shortcircuit between the polycide electrode and upper wiring layer increasesso that the stable film thickness of the BPSG film is particularlyimportant, as in the case of the embodiment of the seventh DRAM.

Also in this embodiment, the nitride film region 36 itself which isnecessary for the nitride spacer SAC structure is used without formingan additional stopper layer. The number of processes does not thereforeincreases.

Since the thickness of the BPSG film 37 influences the area of thestorage electrode and hence the capacitance, after the CMP planarizationanother BPSG film may be formed to set a desired thickness and obtain adesired capacitance. Similar to the embodiment of the fifth DRAM, twolayers of BPSG films with a nitride film being interposed may be used.

9th DRAM

A method of manufacturing a ninth DRAM according to another embodimentof the invention will be described with reference to the schematic crosssectional view of FIG. 33.

In the embodiment of the first DRAM shown in FIG. 5A, the n-typediffusion region 28 is formed in order to reduce junction leak.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 33 the n-type diffusion region 28is formed only in the source/drain region on the side of a capacitor ofthe memory cell. After the source/drain region to which the bit line isconnected is covered with a resist pattern 55, n-type impurity ions,phosphorous, are implanted at a dose of 3×10¹³ cm⁻² into the siliconsubstrate exposed in the contact holes 27 by using the BPSG film 26 andnitride film regions 24 as a mask.

The n-type diffusion region 28 can suppress junction leak as describedwith the embodiment of the first DRAM. However, this ion implantationdeepens the junction of the source/drain regions. Therefore, the shortchannel effects of transistors may be adversely affected or leak currentbetween elements may increase.

The diffusion region which stores small electric charges on thecapacitor side is required to reduce junction leak, whereas junctionleak is not severe for the diffusion region connected to the bit line.

In this embodiment, therefore, ions are implanted only into thediffusion region connected to the capacitor so that one of thesource/drain regions of a MOS transistor can be made to have a shallowjunction and the short channel effects of transistors and leak currentbetween elements can be prevented from being adversely affected.

The present invention has been described in connection with the aboveembodiments. The invention is not limited only to the above embodiments.It is obvious that the invention is applicable to processes having thesame technical concept as the above-described processes.

In the above description, WSi is used as the polycide electrode. Othersilicide materials such as MoSi and TiSi may also be used. In additionto silicide, metals and metal compounds may be used, including tungsten(W), molybdenum (Mo), titanium nitride (TiN), and titanium tungsten(TiW). Since an oxide film is difficult to be formed on metal or metalcompound by thermal oxidation, an oxide film may be formed by CVD or thelike.

In the above description, a silicon oxide film is used as the insulatingfilm formed between the gate electrode and nitride film. Otherinsulating films may also be used if they can relax strains in thesilicon nitride film. If a silicon oxynitride (SiON) film is used, itcan be used also as an antireflection film on the silicide film so thatthe number of processes can be effectively shortened.

Although BPSG is used as an interlayer insulating film, other materialssuch as phosphosilicate glass (PSG) and a silicon oxide film may also beused.

Although isotropic etching of wet etching and anisotropic etching of RIEare used as the etching method, other etching such as isotropic plasmaetching and ECR etching may be selectively used depending uponprocesses.

Although a phosphorous doped silicon film is used as the plug formed inthe contact window, a silicon film doped with p-type impurities such asboron may be used if the plug is formed on the p-type diffusion regionor p-type silicon layer. The material of the plug is not limited only tothe silicon film, but metals and metal compounds such as W and TiW ormetal silicide may also be used.

Although the oxidized nitride film is used as the capacitor insulatingfilm, high dielectric constant films and ferroelectric films such as atantalum oxide (Ta₂O₅) film and a PZT film may also be used. In thiscase, metal is used as the storage electrode and/or the opposingelectrode so that a capacitance reduction by natural oxidation of theelectrode can be prevented and reaction between the capacitor insulatingfilm and silicon film can be avoided.

As the silicon film, polysilicon or amorphous silicon may be used.Impurity doping may be performed at the same time when the film isgrown, or diffusion or ion implantation may be performed after the filmis grown.

In the above embodiments, although a method of forming a cylinder typecapacitor is used, obviously the invention is applicable to othercapacitor structures such as a stack type and a fin type.

Although the invention has been described along the preferredembodiments, it is not limited thereto. It will be apparent that variousmodifications, alterations, combinations or the like can be made.

1. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having asurface; a plurality of first conductive layers formed on the surface ofsaid semiconductor substrate generally parallel; a first insulating filmformed to cover said first conductive layers; a second insulating filmembedded adjacent to one of said conductive layers, said secondinsulating film having a surface coincident with the upper surface ofsaid first insulating film and parallel to the surface of saidsemiconductor substrate; and a contact area formed in said secondinsulating film, part of said contact area exposing one of said firstinsulating film.
 2. A semiconductor device according to claim 1, whereinsaid first conductive layers form DRAM bit lines.